Medium, the popular online blog-publishing service, is now letting users log in via an email prompt, rather than their Twitter or Facebook profiles.
Login protocols have been in a bit of a state of flux in the past couple of years, with authentication evolving from passwords, to image messages, to social media logins and double-step processes.
But you can’t make everybody happy, nor can you make everybody’s access secure.
However, Medium has decided to heed the call from some of its users, who have been seeking a way into their profile without having to rely on Twitter or Facebook.
Admitting that passwords are “neither secure nor simple”, “hard to remember” and “easy to guess”, Medium now lets you log in similar to how you have no doubt relied on a ‘forgot password’ feature.
“When you want to sign in to Medium, we’ll send you an email that contains a special sign in link. Clicking on that link will sign you in,” says the company. The link only lasts 15 minutes, as per above.
Of course, if someone gets access to your email, you are compromised. But that’s true of pretty much all logins nowadays, thanks to the very ‘forgot password’ model Medium is copying.
It looks like you can still login via Twitter and Facebook, by the way. This is merely an additional option, and one that may prove very popular.
Online security image via Shutterstock